ABSTRACT
Arrangements for worker involvement at EU level hold several records in the history of EU social policy. They count among the first issues to be placed on the EU social agenda, they have been the longest to remain on that agenda, and they have proved to be amongst the most controversial. The motives for such a diversification of means for union participation at the EU level were based on the quest for greater legitimacy and efficiency for EU social policy and the EU economic integration process as a whole. The main priority over the 1990s has been to use already existing structures for worker involvement and collective bargaining to deal with substantive issues such as flexibility, work organization, working time, employment and so on. In such a case, the agreement may not provide for a lower level of worker involvement: where the national company already had board-level representation, such participation automatically becomes a compulsory part of the agreement.
